DWTS' gets angry, dirty in front of Cher

It was a Triple Cher week on “Dancing With the Stars” — she judged, she performed, she provided the music for all the dances.

Unfortunately for Brant Daugherty and Peta Murgatroyd, even scoring triple 9s for the foxtrot danced to Cher’s “It’s In His Kiss” couldn’t save them from being eliminated in Week 8. After the individual dances, Brant and Peta danced a rumba against Leah Remini and Tony Dovolani in the dance-off, and lost. That, plus the lack of viewers’ votes from last week, proved the end of their dancing days.

Co-host Brooke Burke-Charvet asked Brant about the experience and he was all class while showing a lot of emotion. “I learned something I never thought I’d be able to learn in my life,” he said. “I learned a lot about myself, and I’m very, very grateful for the opportunity.” Peta added, with tears in her eyes, “He’s an amazing guy. Thank you for making every day a pleasure.”

Cher opened the show with a rocking rendition of “Believe,” even adding some of her own dancers to the mix of DWTS pros. What was hard to believe was how nervous she was at being a judge and how she only changed costumes three times. I did love how she promised, with a big grin, to knee judge Bruno Tonioli if he started some of his antics next to her. We need her back each week to hold him at bay!!

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The couple with the highest score for their individual dance would not be in the dance-off and would be safe to dance next week — now that’s something to dance for. Host Tom Bergeron explained that each couple had to learn four dances to prepare for the individual and possible dance-off routines. Exhausting!

While the dance was very sexy, a week of distractions and spotty rehearsals showed up in some missed footwork on Corbin’s part. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said Corbin brought his ‘A’ game, as he did last week, and his lifts took her breath away. Bruno thought his performance “had wonderful depth,” but that his footwork was a little off, and Cher “thought it was amazing.”

Score: 9, 9, 9 = 27

Leah is getting more and more confident as the season goes on, but the routine seemed a little safe. Bruno said it was “all sweet loveliness, innocence” but Leah should watch her frame in hold. Carrie Ann added that during some moments, she got behind the music. Cher thought it was great and interpreted the emotions of when she and Sonny first met.

Score: 8, 9, 8 = 25

Although Carrie Ann said that Brant had the most potential, she said he needed to act like a leading man, while Bruno said he really needed to refine his dancing to the next step. And Cher just smiled.

Score: 9, 9, 9 = 27

I thought that this was one of Elizabeth’s poorer routines, although she certainly got a lot of anger out in her dance moves. Cher said it was great and rough, but she liked the rough part, and Elizabeth took the opportunity to tell Cher “thank you for showing other women you can create your own rules.” However, as Bruno pointed out, “all that aggression” made her miss several music cues, and Carrie Ann thought it was “kind of one-dimensional,” which made it lose impact.

Score: 8, 9, 8 = 25

Bill is really learning how to move his hips and seemed to have a great time with the routine although his timing is not improving along with his moves. Bruno called it “disco inferno, or infernal,” but that he had the spirit going. Carrie Ann called Bill the “mayor of ‘Dancing With the Stars’” but that he was off the beat — “It was an amazing disco … if you turned the music off.” Cher was amazed that he could get Emma “up in all those positions (lifts)” and Bill said it was because of a “little blue pill.”

Score: 8, 8, 8 = 24

Although he was nervous about performing in front of Cher, Jack did one of his very best performances. Carrie Ann told him he was so confident and that she thoroughly enjoyed that performance although he missed one move. Cher thought it was great and that he looked like a “pimp, a tango-dancing pimp,” for which Jack thanked her. Bruno said Cher had it right and that it was a proper classic tango.

Score: 9, 9, 9 = 27

Poor Amber had more problems with her knee so Derek had to redo the choreography, and Amber got the giggles when she thought about being “all girly.” But she nailed the dance, even with a bum knee. Cher said, “You did it!” and Bruno said she was a “girl on top. You were leading the whole time.” But Carrie Ann didn’t think it was Amber’s best dance and that she is waiting to see more.

Score: 9, 9, 10 = 28

And with that score, Amber and Derek didn’t need to take part in the dance-off and they were automatically safe to dance next week. Wow! What a reward for a week of pain! The six remaining couples were divided into three teams. Since there were three pairs with scores of 27, the couple with the highest cumulative scores over the season — Corbin and Karina — would pick their challenger. They picked Elizabeth and Val, who picked the dance: cha-cha. After two very sexy routines, the judges unanimously picked Corbin and Karina the winners and recipients of three more points for a total of 30.

Next, Brant and Peta picked Leah and Tony as their challenger and they picked a rumba. Incredibly, Leah did an outstanding job of the dance and outshined Brant. Bruno selected Brant and Peta, but Carrie Ann and Cher picked Leah and Tony to receive the three points, for a total of 28.

Finally, Jack and Cheryl went up against Bill and Emma, doing disco, which they had just done in their individual dance. Jack is really looking like the celeb to beat and he and Cheryl did a terrific routine that Bruno described as “dirty dancing.” The judges all selected Jack and Cheryl and they got the three points, for a total of 30.

One of the high points of the show came then as Tom asked Bill to read the teleprompter for him. Bill started reading, “Bill and Emma are … OMG!!!” Tom shouted, “They’re safe!” as Bill jumped around in excitement. I don’t think he ever thought that his fan base was so large, but I don’t know if it can last much longer.

Next week, each couple will be doing an individual dance and the exciting trio dance, where one of the eliminated pros or a member of the DWTS Troupe is added to the routine. Sometimes, these dances turn out to be real stunners — hopefully that will happen next week. See you next Monday — keep dancing!